To Fetch You Out of the Cold
by SweeneyGirl310593
Summary: Bucky and Steve learn that some of HYDRA's heads are still squirming and that they have taken an innocent to be their new Winter Soldier. And they are not okay with that. Rated T for violence and non graphic torture. Please let me know what you think!
1. Prologue

She felt cold and thirsty. But more than that, she felt fear. The darkness of the room she found herself in was almost total and what she could make out in the gloom provided little comfort. Sharp edges and the sheen of metal in front of her. A table? A tap dripped rhythmically, a sound that drilled into what remained of her resolve. She strained against the restraints that bound her to the hard chair she was encased in. "Hello?!" she called. She waited, hearing only her own ragged breath as it condensed in front of her face. "Hello?!" she tried again.

With a pneumatic hiss, cold light spilled into the room. She winced against the sudden brightness. A tall, balding man carrying a clipboard and sporting a labcoat entered the room, muttering into a recorder in his hand "Subject 5 is awake and appears fully coherent. Initial interview about to commence. Date 27th March 2016." The man flicked a switch in the corner of the room and a bulb flickered into life overhead. Turning to her he smiled "let there be light.". He set his recorder and clipboard down, then pulled a second chair over and sat opposite her, his face a mild mask. "Hello, Miss Netherwood. Do you know where you are?"

She shook her head, unable to respond, the dryness in her mouth and apprehension in her mind striking her dumb.

"Oh, where are my manners? Water?" She nodded. He crossed the room. The dripping noise turned into a gush. He returned and set the cup down on the table before remembering she was unable to lift it. He held the water to her lips and she drank greedily. It tasted metallic.

"Now what is the last thing you remember?"

"I-I was on my way to school. I had a test. Someone asked me for directions and-" her memory coalesced "It was you! Who are you? Why did you bring me here? Where am I?"

He held up a hand "please, one at a time. My name is not important, Miss Netherwood. We are currently two stories below ground outside a European town I still cannot pronounce. As to why you are here, that may take a little longer to explain. You are aware, I take it, of the value of your…abilities..."

"What do you mean?" she felt the tightness in her throat return.

"You are what the public has come to refer to as a mutant."

"No-one's supposed to know about that!"

"There is much we know" he looked through a sheaf of papers and recited "Miss Brianna Verity Netherwood. Born 1st May 2001 to Thomas and Jane. Younger twin brothers Jake and Harry, currently 10 years old. Attends Columbus high school in New York State. Bright student. You manifested your powers at 11 years old when Harry fell off his bike. You only had to touch him and a wound that would have needed several stiches healed immediately. You lifted the bike off of him without touching it. Exo-healing and telekinesis. Impressive. And certainly valuable for our program."

The girl called Brianna frowned "What programme? Is this to do with my new school?"

"Oh, yes the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters" the man grinned contemptuously "no. We have considerably more lofty ambitions for you."

"I want to go home" Brianna said tightly, tears prickling at the edge of her vision.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"What do you… you can't keep me here! My parents will look for me!"

"I doubt that. We made reports of your death very convincing, child."

Brianna felt sure she was in a nightmare "they think I'm dead?" her head felt like it was shrinking.

"You would be surprised how easy it is to manipulate the news. Especially when you are as...practiced at it as we are. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a report to attend to. I will be back to collect you for processing soon." At this, he stood and crossed to the light switch, plunging the room back into darkness. He murmured a few words into his recorder and made to leave "You are going to be very useful to us. This programme might not be a complete waste after all."

"Who are you people?" she desperately tried to get him to keep talking. She didn't want to return to the dark.

"Well as you're stuck here, you might as well know. We are HYDRA"

"But HYDRA's gone! We saw it on the news. The Avengers said-"

"I told you, my dear, the news can be altered. And we have been doing it for such a very long time now." He left the room with a smile. Brianna's head fell on her chest as it shook with sobs.


	2. I

"Sargent Barnes; Sir requested a response over 17 minutes ago" the cool voice of FRIDAY gently urged. She got a pillow thrown in her general direction for her troubles. Not that a disembodied AI has a general direction, mind you.

When left to his own devices, Bucky had never been a morning person. Now that more of his memories were coming back, he'd been able to recognise old character traits and that definitely wasn't one he'd ever possessed. Getting up with the dawn chorus had always been more Steve's area. After the terrible night Bucky had had, 6.45 on a Sunday was definitely not an acceptable time to be woken up. "Hey, Buckeroo! Look lively!" another disembodied voice spoke.

"Stark, I swear to God!" Bucky hadn't even thought of a suitable threat when he heard a knock at his door. "Bucky, you awake?".

"Yes, Steve! Yes I am awake!" he rolled out of bed, blasted himself with cold water to shake the last of sleep from his head and pulled on some clothes, muttering dark things about a certain billionaire.

Whatever he had expected when he arrived in the common area of Avenger's Tower, it was not a fully uniformed Maria Hill and Phil Coulson standing in their midst. They looked strangely incongruous next to the team, still in their casual civvies and it raised Bucky's hackles, the old assassin's instinct kicking in, scanning their faces for an indication of the threat level.

"Morning Robocop" Tony greeted him from the breakfast bar, coffee in hand.

"Morning yourself, Tin Man" the snarky response was almost an instinct now and it calmed his nerves slightly.

"What's this all about Tony?" Steve cut straight to the point.

"No idea. Lazarus here told me it was important so I figured I'd better wake you all up."

Coulson sighed "I think everyone had better sit down. There's something you ought to see."

Everyone settled into the closest available chair as Tony switched on the scroll-down TV. FRIDAY had automatically synced with Coulson's flash drive.

"You know it's creepy how your tech does that?"

"My house, Phil. Also, you people are SHIELD. Hypocrite much?!"

"Touche" replied the director and tapped the screen. It showed a feed of a clinical room, the lighting dimmed. A girl who could not be more than 16 was tied to a chair in the centre of the room, dirty blonde hair covering her face "What are we watching?" asked Steve, looking at the scene with unease.

"Our intelligence sources sent us this footage from an underground bunker in a location we have been unable to pinpoint. We are fairly certain that it is one of the European HYDRA bases we thought long abandoned." Hill responded "clearly we were mistaken."

"So these people are HYDRA, not another organisation appropriating the base?" asked Natasha.

"We have reason to believe so."

The team watched with growing dread as groups of technicians flitted around the girl. There was no audio but she was clearly becoming more and more frantic in her attempts to communicate with them. Eventually one of them dealt her a vicious blow across the face which made everyone shift uncomfortably. Eventually, a signal was given. The girl jolted upright. Suddenly an audio track accompanied the visual "No! No! No!" she was screaming.

"Commencing 3rd attempt on three-" the dispassionate voice paid the girl's protests little mind.

Suddenly the girl's back arched and cranial restraints descended over her face. To the horror of all assembled she convulsed and let out an ear-splitting scream of agony. Mercifully, the file cut out at that point.

"Sorry, why are we watching this?" Asked Bruce, looking horrified.

The significance of the scene was not lost on Steve, however "i've seen that technology. They're making another Winter Soldier. They are making a child into a Winter Soldier" he got the strange urge to break something. Hill nodded "It seems so."

There was a sharp intake of breath behind them. Immediately, everyone turned to face Bucky. He had gone deathly still and pale, his face a rictus of pure fury as his sea blue eyes burned into the wall where the feed had been playing. Steve recognised the hitch in his breathing and the setting of his jaw. "Buck?" He asked.

Abruptly, Bucky left the room and wasn't seen for the rest of the day.

Steve eventually gave up trying to sleep. The haunting images they had seen earlier and the argument that had followed refused to release his mind. "FRIDAY, what time is it?" He asked with a yawn.

"1.48 am, Sir"

He rolled over and walked down the hall. Each of the apartments in the reconstructed Stark Tower had been built to their occupant's personal specifications. Steve and Bucky's resembled the one they had lived in when the War broke out but with considerably more working appliances. It had its own kitchenette but for some reason Steve was drawn to the common area, taking the stairs two at a time instead of the lift. The slight exertion helped to calm his nerves.

To his surprise, he found he wasn't alone. Illuminated by the harsh white glow of a laptop screen, Bucky sat at the table, knees drawn up to his chest, earphones in, a look of intense concentration on his face. He must have noticed his friend's entrance but showed no outward indiction of it.

Steve rounded the table and felt a lurch in his stomach. Bucky had viewed the footage from earlier no fewer than 36 times. "Jesus, Buck, what are you...?"

"I'm checking for distinguishing features. They didn't always keep me in one place. Wanted to see if there was any indication where they're holding her. Look here" Bucky toggled a few keys and the image enhanced "The door. It's definitely one of their oldest. The first generation of bases. Only one of those survives which puts it in the Austrian Alps."

Steve frowned "You got that from a door?"

"They trained their Asset well." A savage bitterness crept into Bucky's tone.

"I'm sorry you had to see that" Steve said sadly. He had been sure to give Coulson and Hill and earful earlier. Words to the effect of "what the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm more sorry for her" Bucky replied sharply "just when we thought we'd seen the dirtiest thing HYDRA could do they take a goddam child away from her neighbourhood and they start to strip away everything she is and send her out killing for them. She's a kid, Steve!" Bucky was shouting now.

"I know. It makes me feel pretty sick too." That was an understatement if Steve had ever spoken one.

Bucky snorted "They were right to come to us. Now we know her location, we can go in for a retrieval."

"Wait, Buck, are you sure you-"

"About as sure as I've been about anything in my damn life, Stevie. I have to go. Cause if I leave this poor kid in that hellhole then, well then I never deserved to get out myself."

Steve was taken aback by the harshness of the words. He had to concede though that Bucky was the right choice for this mission. Only one thing concerned him. "Buck, if these people are HYDRA and they have information about the original Winter Soldier programme, they could try and...control you again. Are you prepared for that?"

"Don't worry Steve. I got rid of the triggers after my second stint at Wakanda. They can say what they like, I'm never doing their bidding again. What are we waiting for, anyway?"

"Apparently we've gotta wait for SHIELD's go ahead. They won't approve an extraction by the Avengers until their intelligence turns the location up."

Bucky growled. The Accords were still being negotiated upon so nobody knew what constituted clearance for a mission yet. Surely the director of the new de-HYDRA'd SHIELD popping by with such footage qualified?

Steve could tell how important this was to his friend. An innocent teenager was in the hands of HYDRA and had the potential to resurrect the Winter Soldier programme. Against Steve's better judgement he said "We could always...not wait for orders."

Bucky grinned, the shadows cast by the laptop's light accentuating the expression "let's suit up then."

Tony was awoken rather rudely at almost 4 am. "Sir, my systems have detected an unauthorised launch from our upstate hanger. Shall I shut it down?" FRIDAY asked.

Immediately alert, Tony demanded "Who's at the wheel?"

"Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes"

"Sonofabitch! Gahh, put me through"

After a moment of static, Bucky's voice came through the comms "Save it, Tony"

"Hey, hey, I just wanted to know what you're planning on doing with my stuff!"

"Nothing you wouldn't".

Tony snorted derisively "just bring it back in one piece and try not to cause an international incident, okay?"

"Try our best" Steve piped up.

"And Cap, we're on standby for backup."

"Don't worry, Metalhead, we got it" Barnes shot back.

"Do you even know what that means? Never mind, just report when you got the kid alright?"

"See you Tony." Steve signed off. Tony ran his fingers through dark hair he was sure was starting to go grey.


	3. II

"So much for the stealth mission!" Shouted Steve above the din of gunfire. Bucky grunted in response. Their arrival had been uneventful. Bucky, with the remote assistance of FRIDAY had been able to hack into the security footage and the alarm on the ventilation system. The two of them had just been able to fit their considerable bulk into the narrow opening. After less than 15 minutes, however, a siren had started blaring. The two soldiers had glanced at each other and smashed through the vents, landing in the midst of at least a dozen HYDRA operatives. Between their enhanced strength, Bucky's alloy arm and Steve's vibranium shield, they made short work of the group. By the time they had found out where the girl was being held and arrived at the correct location, however, they were facing at least 30 men.

Bucky flinched behind a barrel "just like the good ol' days, hey Stevie?"

"We have an opening. Go!"

The two of them charged at the door, Steve in front, Bucky covering behind. Just like the good old days. They ploughed through the man framed in the doorway and were suddenly in the main lab. Bucky shuddered at the memories this place stirred. Electricity, like synaptic wildfire, burning his identity away. Instructions barked in Russian. 'Focus!' he ordered himself. P

The group of technicians gathered round the chair turned to face them with varying degrees of alarm on their faces. Bucky paid them no mind. He was much more concerned with the girl and the sound of a rifle being cocked.

"Stop! Stop now, both of you! Put down your weapons or we kill the girl!" A pinpoint of red light danced over her light hair. She whimpered.

"Okay, okay, easy" Steve was saying, making to set down his shield. Bucky's eyes darted around for the sniper. Then he saw it. A telltale glint of metal from the next level. 'Rookie' he thought before catching Steve's eye. He caught on instantly. After a tense second the sniper called "I'm waiting, Captain Rogers!". This was going to be very close.

Steve threw the shield at the same time Bucky lifted and fired his gun. The disc curved through the air, absorbing the bullet at the same instant that Bucky's shot found its mark. The sniper tumbled, lifeless from the rail above. The girl cried out, then silence fell.

"Anyone else?" Asked Steve. Apparently none of the technicians were keen on the idea of facing off against Captain America. Bucky gave the cringing men a satisfied smirk before turning to the girl. He had very little compassion for the fear of men and women who so readily caused hurt to others.

"Hey, kid" he spoke as softly as he could.

The girl flinched and jerked her head up, dislodging her bedraggled, greasy hair from her gaunt and bruised face. Dark eyes darted between the two soldiers.

"What's your name, kid? Do you remember?"

"Brianna" she responded horsely.

"Hey, that's a nice name. Do you know who we are?" Steve asked gently.

"Are you kidding?" She asked shakily "you're Captain America. And Sergeant Barnes. I-You're taller in real life."

The three of them laughed. It wasn't uncommon for the Avengers to leave people starstruck but it was rather incongruous in this setting. "He wasn't always that tall!" teased Bucky.

"I know. I went to the Smithsonian."

"Hey, Brianna, we gotta move okay? I'm gonna get these off you." Steve lifted the shield and smashed into the cuffs binding her to the chair. They gave way easily under the vibranium. Bucky glanced at the equipment, the same machine that had taken so much from him, then turned to the girl "this is gonna make noise okay?". She nodded and Bucky promptly emptied the rest of the clip into the mass of circuits, obliterating them. It was probably excessive but so satisfying.

"Can you walk?" Asked Bucky. She nodded and tried to stand up before her legs gave out in a wave of pins and needles. "I thought it would have worn off."

"What, kid?"

"Localised muscle toxin. After I tried to escape, they gave me something to stop me."

A wave of anger rose in Bucky. "Okay, Steve, I got her. You cover us." At this, he scooped up Brianna and they left the room that had caused so much pain.

"Do you know if there are any others?" Asked Steve.

"No. I'm Subject 5. The first that survived processing. The guy that brought me here takes all the files with him. He's gone to report to someone in America."

"That's a good idea, let's get us back Stateside too" Bucky said emphatically. He didn't want to spend one second longer than nessisary in this depraved place.

After what seemed an age, they were finally outside. Night was falling fast and the snowfall was heavier. They only just managed to see the jet. Bucky and Steve ran full pelt across the obscured platform. By the time they were inside, Brianna was shuddering uncontrollably. The bitter cold, exhaustion and adrenaline comedown were all taking their toll. Bucky's caring instinct, honed back when he was an older brother as well as best friend to one of the most sickly kids in Brooklyn, immediately took over. As Steve readied the plane for takeoff, he wrapped the girl in several blankets and fetched her a drink "careful, it's hot" he told her before she had a chance to gulp it down. When she finished he set her cup down. "You okay for a while? We're gonna be in the air for a few hours. Why don't you get some rest?". She nodded and closed her eyes, asleep in seconds. Bucky gave a relieved smile as he patted her shoulder. She was safe. They hadn't taken her.

"How is she?" asked Steve when Bucky joined him in the cockpit.

"Out like a light. You reported in yet?"

"Yeah. Tony made sure I knew all about the pains he went to to cover for us. Apparently we missed the briefing for the rescue mission tomorrow."

"What rescue mission?"

Steve grinned and pointed behind them "already taken care of."

Bucky's smile faltered, thinking of what had happened to the girl, knowing what would have become of her "not a damn second too soon".


	4. III

When Brianna next became aware, she was being gently shaken by Sergeant Barnes "hey, we've landed."

"Where?" She asked.

"Upstate New York. At the Avengers training facility."

She stood, still shaky but feeling refreshed. She emerged onto a field surrounded by lush woodland on one side and a large, glass and chrome structure on the other. She walked, barefoot across the grass, feeling the soothing cool sensation between her toes. When she got inside, she found herself surrounded by people. Some she knew from news broadcasts, others she didn't.

"You know SHIELD will be needing a full report to take before the Accords Committee, Steve" a man in a suit stepped forward and frowned at him before turning a softer expression to her "hey, how you doing?"

"I don't really know." She replied truthfully.

"Okay, Brianna, isn't it? I'm Agent Coulson. We have given your name to the authorities and are in the process of finding and contacting your family. I expect they'll be overjoyed. Now, what we're going to do is just have a doctor check you over okay?" She nodded and he led her away.

"Erm, Mr. Coulson sir. Could they come and wait?" She gestured to the Captain and Sergeant. She instantly felt embarrassed to have asked.

"I'm sure they have time for that before sorting out the paperwork" Coulson gave them a pointed look.

"Funny, Phil" Rogers crossed his arms over the red white and blue suit.

"Phil?" She asked unable to keep the incredulity from her tone.

"Why does everybody say that?"

"Because it's a boring accountant name. Agents are meant to be called John Smith or James Bond or..." A sarcastic drawl issued from the room's newest occupant.

Brianna's jaw hit the floor "Oh my God, Tony Stark?"

"Yep, that's me"

"Sorry, its just my brothers are gonna freak when I tell them I met you and my mom, she's got a major crush on you and, God what am I saying?" She felt her cheeks burning. She heard Captain Rogers struggling to control his mirth behind her.

"You see Rogers, at least someone appreciates me around here!"

"As charming as this banter is, we are keeping medical staff waiting" Coulson huffed. Stark gave a mock salute before taking off down the corridor, tapping on a tablet. "Shall we?" Asked the agent.

"Okay, you look very healthy, now we're gonna check your teeth" the nurse said sweetly. Perhaps too sweetly, the kind of tone that people who didn't appreciate the difference between teenagers and children used. Brianna paid it no mind and nodded. "I need you to lean back in the chair".

Brianna felt her heart against her chest. This didn't feel right. The kindly, singsong voice started to sound faintly menacing in her ears. "Can you sit back?". Brianna swallowed and inched her back onto the chair. "Okay, lets have a look, open!" Something cold and metallic touched her tongue.

Suddenly she was back in a colder, darker room. "Open!" Ordered one of the technicians. Her vision swam as her chest tightened.

"Noooooooo!" She screamed. Every breakable object in the room shattered.

Bucky had been feeling jumpy about this for the last five minutes but had decided enough was enough. As he barged into the room, the nurse tearfully approached him "I don't know what happened!"

"Get out and let me deal with it" Bucky was perhaps more harsh than he needed to be. She scuttled from the room as Steve trailed him.

Brianna was rocking among the mess on the floor, moaning into her clasped knees, a litany of "no no, please". She had flattened herself against the far corner.

"Hey, Brianna, do you know where we are?" Bucky knelt next to her, keeping a distance between them so she wasn't trapped.

She flinched "not Europe?"

"No, you're back in the States. You're in New York and you're gonna be home very soon okay? Nobody here's gonna hurt you kiddo."

Her face crumpled and she launched herself at Bucky, wrapping her arms around him and crying into his flesh and blood shoulder "I'm sorry...I leaned back and...thought I was back there...broke everything...God I'm..." Speech gave way to sobs.

"Shusssh. It's all alright. Shusssh" he murmured, holding her tight, making her feel secure, just as he remembered Nat and Steve doing for him not so long ago "I got you, shusssh."

Eventually, he felt the tension drain from her and helped her to her feet.

"Look what I've done" she winced.

"That's okay, we'll take care of it. How about let's get you a room so you can wash up? And some food. How about you, Steve, you hungry?"

"Starved" said Steve, giving her a winning smile.

"That sounds great. Thanks for, uh, helping me Sergeant."

"Hey, I'm Bucky. That's Steve. We don't need ceremony, kid." She nodded.

"Hey, Brianna, when did you know you could do that?" Asked Steve, gesturing at the mess.

"Well my brother sucked at cycling..."

When Brianna came in for dinner, she felt amazingly refreshed. Clean clothes had been found for her and she had she had finally been able to tie it up as she liked. Fading bruises along her left temple were the only physical signs of her ordeal now.

She walked into the kitchen diner to find a very incongruous sight. The Vision was arguably the most mysterious of the Avengers. No one was really sure where he had come from and he looked quite the apparition with magenta skin, a jewelled forehead and a golden cape that seemed part of him. The image before her was so bizarre that she couldn't help but stare.

"Hello, Ms. Netherwood. I am preparing some chilli with rice. I hope that is to your liking?"

"Yeah, my gran cooks chilli" she felt a pang of homesickness and her eyes swam.

"I'm sorry to have caused you distress."

"No, no, it's fine. It smells lovely. Anything I can do?"

"Perhaps you can set the table?" Vision suggested after a moment's thought "here is the cutlery" he pointed to the drawer.

After a moment, the table was ready and the other occupants of the base had filed in. Brianna couldn't get over how surreal it was. Thankfully people spared her excessive questioning. Even so, after the meal, she felt drained of energy. "You wanna turn in? You okay finding your way?" Asked Bucky, noticing her fatigue.

She nodded "thankyou."

"Goodnight, Brianna" he smiled as she left the room.


	5. IV

"So there you have it. I hope that satisfies the committee" Bucky and Steve had just finished their report to Coulson.

"Look, Sergeant, I believe you and Steve made the right call but there's something you should know. Agent Hill and I did not have permission to show you that footage. Our intelligence had had it for a week and it was subject to the highest security clearance. As you can imagine, anything involving HYDRA..."

"You sat on that for a week?!" Steve was aghast.

"It landed on my desk at 5am. I arrived at Stark Tower at 6.30."

"Sorry Phil. I know you wouldn't ignore this but, why? Why weren't you told? Why weren't we called in straight away?"

Coulson took a deep breath "we got hold of the footage from a SHIELD agent in deep cover. We thought we'd lost contact years ago. She's on her way back over here to give her report."

"Why didn't this agent think to get Brianna out of there herself?" Bucky demanded.

"She felt, and I quote 'this operation has taken too many years of my goddam life and too many of my kid's birthdays to blow it over one hostage.'"

Bucky was incensed "Really? I'm looking forward to telling her what having years stolen really feels like. Frozen, someone frying your head until you're too addled to question the orders they pump into you. I wonder if she would have been quite so calm if it was her own kid strapped to that chair!"

"I know you have strong personal feelings about this, Barnes but from a purely logical point of view, she felt more value could be gained from observing the operation. I don't blame you for what you did but the fact of the matter is, a HYDRA cell is still functioning and not a single arrest has been made. That base is probably deserted by now and they know not to go back."

"Let's hope they rot in a mountain cave somewhere" Bucky said brazenly. Steve couldn't help agreeing.

"Humm. Well the girl's safe. We can call that a success at least. We made contact with the family and her parents are on their way. They'll arrive in the morning. I think we are done here. I'm heading back to DC tomorrow to straighten this out. Goodnight gentlemen."

"Night Phil" Steve nodded.

When Brianna woke the next morning she hardly dared to open her eyes. She could barely believe the feeling of the soft bed underneath her and the sight of the large plush room around her. Safety. She could hear a gentle knocking sound at the door. "Who is it?"

Bucky's muffled voice came through the door "hey, it's me. Just letting you know your folks are here."

Brianna fell out of bed in her haste to get up, muttering a sharp "ow!". She pulled on the hoodie she had been leant and opened the door. Bucky laughed gently "they're not gonna disappear kid. Come on, they're down the hall."

When she was lead into the room she felt a rush of joy "Mom, Dad?"

Their heads whipped around and they were perfectly still for a moment before her mother gave a strangled cry "Brianna! Oh my God, Brianna!"

"Mom!" She threw herself into her mother's arms and they both wept into each other's hair.

"We thought we'd lost you." Her father breathed. Brianna dragged him into the embrace. When they finally broke apart, he turned to face the Bucky and Steve, face shining with tears and relief "How can we thank you?"

"We're just glad she's back with her family." Steve gave him a winning smile.

"Where are the boys?" Asked Brianna.

"They're staying at your gran's honey. They can't wait to see you tonight. You ready to go?"

Coulson piped up from the corner of the room "I'm afraid it won't be possible for you to leave straight away m'am"

"Why? We need to get our family home."

"I understand but...your daughter was the victim of a terrorist organisation we have had...considerable dealings with. We will need to ask her a few questions. Unfortunately the information discussed will be of a sensitive nature so...you won't be able to accompany her."

Brianna's father enfolded her protectively in his arms "my daughter won't be going anywhere without us, Agent Coulson. She's a minor!"

"Dad, it's okay."

"Brianna, you have been through too much okay, I won't let them interrogate you!"

"I know what I've been through, Dad! Look, these people need to be caught. If something I know can help them do that then...I'll be fine" she gave her parents a reassuring smile. They glanced at each other before releasing her.

"Don't worry Mr. Netherwood, we'll take care of her." Steve said as Bucky put an arm over her shoulder "we ready?". This was directed at Coulson.

"Yes. We'll bring her back up as soon as we're done. In the meantime, perhaps Mr. Stark can...sit with you?"

"Mr...as in Tony Stark?" Flustered Brianna's mother.

"Mom, don't be embarrassing!"

A good natured chuckle dispelled what remained of the tension in the room.

"That's all you remember?" Asked Coulson. Beyond a description of the man who had taken her and a name that could have been a pseudonym anyway, Brianna's testimony hadn't given them a lot to go on. He tried not to let his disappointment show.

"I...yes. I'm sorry"

Coulson was about to speak before there was a knock at the door "Come in Agent Moralis.". The dark haired woman was shown in. "Long time, no see, Phil" she said.

Brianna looked at the woman in abject horror "No! She's one of them. You hurt me!"

"It's okay, Brianna, she's one of ours" Steve told her. Moralis sat opposite Brianna who drew her clasped hands back.

"He's right. I'm so sorry for what happened to you. Believe me, I would have liked nothing better than to get you out but if I had gone for an extraction then we both would have been killed.". Bucky couldn't help but remember the very different attitude her repeated comment had shown last night.

Brianna gave her a look of pure hatred "No! You helped them." her breath hitched "you laughed at me."

"An act, dear. I'm very sorry and so glad you're safe now." her face softened with regret "Now I've got to give my report to Agent Coulson.". He gestured to Bucky and Steve.

Brianna was still bristling when she was led from the room "Brianna, you have to understand what kind of work this is..." began Steve.

"No, Steve, we can't trust her. She's HYDRA."

"She was only pretending to be."

"I know what I saw!"

"They messed with your head, Brianna. You said so yourself that it feels hazy to you. You hadn't been in there long enough for the procedure to affect your long term memory, thank God, but it was enough to make you unsure about what had happened recently, wasn't it? It was the same with me. It took me years to properly forget who I was." Bucky told her gently. Steve shifted. No matter how many times Bucky talked of his ordeal, it never got any easier to hear.

She fixed Bucky's eyes with a piercing stare "do you trust me?"

"Sure. Yeah, I do."

"Then don't trust her. Please."

Before they had time to react, an explosion rocked the corridor. A vase smashed. All three of them felt their blood chill as they recognised the sound of gunfire. "Steve, where's your shield?" asked Bucky.

"Looking for this?" asked the cool voice of Moralis behind them. They turned to see her carrying it.

"Thanks, Moralis" Steve walked towards her. Brianna gave Bucky a significant look. His hand found the handle of the small blade he always carried and tightened as he inched closer to the girl. "Coulson?" Bucky called. No answer.

Moralis rolled her eyes and lowered the shield, the gun she had been concealing pointed at Steve. "Hail HYDRA" she barked before firing. Steve hit the floor with a grunt of pain.


	6. V

With a wordless bellow of rage, Bucky threw himself at the agent, wrenching the shield and gun away. Within seconds, he stood behind her, knife at her throat "how did they buy you, traitor?" he growled.

"My family are taken care of. Better than SHIELD ever did."

"Moralis, you didn't have to do this. Whatever it is, we could have helped you." Steve said from the floor.

"Never managed it before. Remember the Johnson building in New York?". Steve sighed. The Chltari invasion had claimed many lives, despite the best efforts of the then newly formed team.

"You lost someone?"

"My husband. And my kids were never expected to walk again. Until HYDRA came along."

"I'm sorry Moralis. We tried. It wasn't enough to save everyone. There were just too many of them to contain." The look of regret in Steve's eyes was deep and genuine.

"Oh do spare me that look, Rodgers." She looked darkly at him.

Steve got to his feet with a wince "listen, I understand the pain you must have gone through but it didn't give you any right to inflict it on anyone else. The kid you helped torture had nothing to do with anything!"

Moralis,laughed bitterly. "You understand? Really?"

"You ain't the only one who ever lost something" Bucky told her.

Brianna, who had been standing frozen in the corner, shifted then knelt next to Steve's injured leg, giving both the Avengers a significant look. "Here goes" she smiled shakily before holding her hands over the bullet wound. "What is she doing?" asked Moralis.

"Shut up!" Bucky held the knife closer, then turned back to Brianna "go on, kid."

Brianna's face contorted in concentration, her hands shaking. The bleeding slowed and eventually stopped. A small lump of misshapen metal wormed its way out of the wound and fell to the floor with a soft clatter and the bloody, traumatised flesh shrank back to leave clear, unblemished skin.

"Thanks" Steve managed.

"Freak" Moralis spat.

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" Bucky jerked his head "hey, Steve, you get Coulson and we lock her in.". Steve nodded, extracting an unconscious Coulson from the room. "I'll have that back, thanks". He took up his shield as Bucky unceremoniously forced the former agent back into the room, locking the door. They leaned Coulson carefully against the wall, taking the liberty of borrowing some SHIELD gear.

"Trackers, bullets..." Bucky muttered an inventory.

"Nifty trick kid!" Steve smiled.

"Not bad for a freak, right? She should think of some new insults." she returned the grin.

Bucky turned to them "Now, let's see what kinda hell has broken loose, shall we?" he took up position behind Brianna and Steve who had the shield raised in front of them.

When the trio arrived in the living room, it was a mess. White leather furniture was charred and overturned, bullet marks decorated the walls, several people were unconscious on the floor and everyone in the room stood frozen, pointing weapons at each other. The sound of faint sobbing from the only intact couch told them why.

"Mom, Dad! You?" Brianna yelled at the balding man who currently had a handgun trained on her parents.

"Well if it isn't our little runaway! Found at last!"

"Run, Brianna!" her mother yelled. She was rewarded with a slap. Bucky raised his own weapon behind Steve, positioning himself in front of Brianna, who had tried to move forward. One of the group of invaders marked him.

"Lynch, I assume?" asked Steve. The only name Brianna had been able to give them.

"That's the one." Tony's voice sounded tinny through his suit but still conveyed sheer contempt.

"Let them go and we can talk." Steve addressed the HYDRA agent.

He gave a soft laugh. "I'm sorry to bruise your egos, dear Captain, but I came for somebody else." He looked directly behind Steve at Brianna "you're coming with us, Miss Netherwood.".

Tony scoffed "and why will she be doing that, exactly?"

"Because if she doesn't, I shoot dear Mom and Pop here and, upon my retrieval, order my pilot to drop our entire payload on this building."

"We're reinforced."

"Against your own weapons, Mr. Stark? We...acquired a considerable number of missiles from our days in SHEILD. Strange, I didn't think you went in for that sort of thing any more. Well, I suppose if you're in the habit of declaring war against powerful people , you need a bit of firepower..."

"We have one of your agents. Moralis."Steve countered "let the Netherwoods go and we can negotiate."

"Oh, that stupid...never mind. I consider her collateral damage."

"You came halfway round the world to find me? Why?" asked Brianna.

"You and your protector there are now the only survivors of the Winter Soldier programme. l remember you, Barnes. Your escape after we retrieved you from DC was nothing short of spectacular. I counted the bodies." Bucky glowered at him "However, we now require Assets with a little...something more."

"The Mutant X gene, you mean?" asked Brianna.

"Yes. Imagine it, a new generation of HYDRA assassins, already born with extraordinary abilities. Apparently one of the X-freaks can phase through walls. What an Asset that would be! So you see Barnes, you are somewhat obsolete. The girl will help us to our future." His eyes were shining now "HYDRA will rise again."

"Over my dead body!" Bucky growled. Only Brianna could see the slight tremor of emotion coursing through him. His arm, however, was as steady as ever.

"Must we make that necessary?" asked Lynch "well, then, her folks first!"

"No!" Brianna shouted "don't hurt them, any of them. I'll...come with you. You can do what you like to me...just not them.". Her mind raced and her stomach felt sick. She had no choice but she felt cold terror at the thought of willingly handing herself over to be put through all that again. There had to be a way out.

"Well then, gave her less than twenty-four hours with the Avengers and she's ready to lay down her life for them. Come then,"

"Can I...say goodbye?" she asked, genuine tears in her eyes. Lynch waved impatiently.

"Brianna, this is insane!" Bucky told her "we can't let you..."

"Trackers, base" she hissed quietly, trying to obscure her mouth. Bucky understood what she was saying immediately. Whether he liked this plan was another matter entirely. He grabbed her arm, pressing the tracker onto the skin. The small strip immediately blended in to match her skin tone. Stark technology never failed to amaze Bucky. One of the invading goons approached and seized Brianna's other arm. Bucky made a show of defending her and was answered with the sound of a cocked gun over the other Netherwoods. The sight of Brianna hugging them, being pulled away and their heartbroken faces as their daughter was once again being taken by HYDRA as a willing lamb to the slaughter almost broke Bucky's resolve.

Apparently Tony's hadn't held up too well either. The whine of his gauntlets was heard before one of Lynch's goons threw something at him. When the small disc made contact with the suit, it sparked and forced Tony to kneel. A cry of pain issued from behind the helmet.

"What did you do?" Steve demanded of Lynch, kneeling next to Tony.

"I shot him with an EMP. His suit is now being locked into place. He won't be able to move at all until I'm out of range." Lynch grinned at the remainder of the people in the room as he left it through the shattered ground floor window. He dragged a tearful Brianna away, stepping aboard the waiting helicopter with the rest of his men. Steve ran after them as the rotary blades began to spin. With a grunt of effort, he hurled the shield at the blades. At the exact moment he had prepared to throw it, however, Lynch had fired a shot. It skimmed the surface of the shield, altering its trajectory just enough to cause it to land a few inches below the target. It fell away from the chopper, leaving only a dent. He watched in horror as it took off and disappeared from view.


	7. VI

Steve walked with uncharacteristic heaviness when he crossed the threshold again. The Netherwoods held each other, inconsolable, and he felt a wave of guilt. Brianna's father looked up at him. "You have to bring her back" he said before dissolving into tears again. Steve put a hand on his shoulder "that's the plan, Sir". He walked up to Bucky, searching his friend's face for the ghost of an idea.

"How are we gonna do this, Buck? I have no ideas." He murmured, his confidence dented somewhat now that he was out of the Netherwood's earshot.

"She did. She asked me to put a tracker on her."

Steve gave a soundless whistle "I can't work out if she's a genius or just..."

"A reckless punk. Remind you of anyone?" Bucky shot him a half smile.

"Gahhhhhh!" Tony exclaimed from the other side of the room, getting stiffly to his feet "FRIDAY, I need some air!" The Iron Man suit folded back in sections until Tony fell out of it onto the floor "that feels better! Ahh, that hurt, let's not do that again."

"How you doing, Tony?" Asked Steve.

"Okay. Ya know, a bit pissed about some neo-Nazi smashing our suff and getting his hostage back to take off to God knows where but other than that...damn where's Vision when you need him?" It was a stroke of very bad luck that Vision had been sent to give a talk to the press first thing this morning.

"He won't have her for long. Not if your tech is up to scratch." Bucky told him. Tony shot Steve a quizzical look.

"She's got one of your trackers on, Tony"

"This your idea, Bucks Fizz?"

"Hers actually." Bucky responded.

"So the kid planned her own rescue. We're really not on our game today, are we? Come on then, Barnes and Noble. Let's go get her location." Tony clapped them both on the shoulder and wandered off to fetch his laptop.

Bucky looked quizzically at Steve. Part of friendship with Tony Stark was learning to navigate his sometimes quite convoluted pop culture references.

"Search me!' Steve shrugged "lets go get our gear."

Brianna was mentally muttering a mantra, trying to block out her unease and the deafening roar of the helicopter blades. As she watched the Avenger's facility disappear into the trees behind her, a terrifying thought rose unbidden in her mind. What if the tracker didn't work? In that case she would seriously consider jumping out of the helicopter. 'They're gonna come, they have to' she told herself.

None of the men on the helicopter so much as acknowledged her existence for the entire ride. They were heading north, a blanket of trees spread out below them for miles. Eventually, they touched down on a landing pad.

"Come then, Miss Netherwood. You see, no good has come of your escape. The Avengers did you no favours, only made your parent's pain worse."

"Please shut up." she almost breathed, too emotionally exhausted to deal with Lynch's jibes. He struck her across the jaw, tightened his grip on her arm and dragged her through the entrance to the bunker.

"Get everything ready for the wiping procedure. No way of knowing how much of a setback this will prove until we try it. We'll have to step up the intensity."

Brianna felt like she was floating down the corridor, her brain shutting out the reality of what was happening. "Check her over first" Lynch ordered.

Brianna held her breath as a metal detector was waved around her and sighed in relief when the agent said, "clean, Sir."

"Really, is that true Brianna?" It was the first time Lynch had used her first name and it chilled her.

"Yes" the tremor in her voice gave her away 'dammit!' She thought.

"Where is it? Hold on, Barnes had your arm..." Lynch looked closer at the limb, his eyes fixed on a loose flake of skin. He dug his nails in and pulled the tracker off "well, well, some Stark tech to reverse engineer. You see, my girl, you're already proving a useful Asset."

"I'm not your Asset! I'm never going to..."

Lynch gave a harsh laugh "You are not going to remember your own name soon. You understand? We are going to kill Brianna Netherwood and what is left of her will serve HYDRA in any way we see fit, you hear? Now I was thinking off using this ourselves but what we have here is too valuable to risk being traced. Lets get rid of this before it can transmit shall we?" He dropped the tracker and brought his foot down on it.

Brianna felt her own hope give way. The enormity of what might have just happened threatened to overwhelm her. If the signal hadn't got through she was lost. "Now take her and wipe her. Tomorrow she'll have no idea she even left us." Lynch turned to his men.

"Nooooo!" Brianna screamed. She stretched out her hand and one of the men flew back across the landing strip.

"You're only causing yourself more pain, child" Lynch said from behind her. Brianna felt the sting of a needle in her arm. Blackness swam at the corners of her vision, then it consumed her.


	8. VII

"Steve, he's onto us!" Bucky told his friend. The three Avengers; himself, Tony and Steve were in the Quinjet, dropping to just below normal flight altitude. Tony sat near the back of the plane, Steve was piloting and Bucky himself had Tony's laptop wedged between himself and the copilot's controls. They had had a clear signal from Brianna until seconds ago when it abruptly cut out. That meant the tracker had been discovered and destroyed. Bucky hoped that Brianna herself had not been damaged.

Steve never cursed, but he came damn near close now. "We go to the coordinates for her last known position then. Tony, you ready to go?" The plan was to have Tony take out any AA guns or actual aircraft these people had, leaving a clear landing for the jet. The other two would make the extraction and Bucky would escort Brianna home while Steve and Tony held down any prisoners for SHIELD to pick up.

"Sure thing, Cap."

Bucky frowned. Another Starkian idiosyncrasy was that he called the rest of the team by codename while in the field. All of the Commandos back in the War had referred to Steve by surname. Bucky himself refused to be called the Winter Soldier so he just got various nicknames. Perhaps it was a defence mechanism for Tony, to distance himself from the fact that these people who were risking their lives alongside him were his friends. After all he had been through, Bucky understood that sort of thing.

Steve opened the hatch. Tony's mask dropped down, obscuring his dark features and Iron Man descended to the target location, making way for their landing.

"Here we go again" Steve and Bucky hefted their respective weapons and ran out of the jet doors. Bucky really didn't like the open expanse of tarmac in front of them and the trees flanking it. They were far too exposed while the enemy had plenty of cover. Steve apparently had no qualms about it. They ran hell for leather towards the bunker. Bucky's rifle was raised, firing at the source of all the shots that were aimed at them. Tony was providing ample assistance from the air. "Tony, door!" Steve yelled.

"Right on it," Tony responded in their earpieces. Two blasts knocked the door to the entrance clean off its hinges before Tony went back to demolishing the base's defences. Finally, they gained the cover of the entryway, barrelling down the corridor. They dived into opposite alcoves to regain their breath and assess their status. "Where the hell is everyone?" demanded Bucky.

"No idea. You don't happen to know this place do you?"

Bucky shook his head. "I got nothing."

The two soldiers continued down the corridor, more cautiously this time, every sinew on high alert. A scream issued from deeper within the base, around the corner. The scream of a young girl. Bucky and Steve's hands tightened on their weapons. The sounds of struggle came closer. Shadows played on the wall. Steve counted at least seven. Bucky glanced at him and Steve nodded. They rounded the corner, weapons raised.

They found themselves on a walkway, above a large chamber. Cryotubes littered the floor below. Ready for more Assets. Immediately in front of them was Lynch, flanked by ten Hydra agents, their guns trained on them. His hand gripped Brianna's shoulder. "Bucky! Steve!" she made to run to them before being dragged back by her hair. A knife was pressed to her throat "one more step...". Bucky blinked rapidly, training his rifle on Lynch.

"You're not gonna kill her. Not after coming all this way to get her. Release her and we'll discuss surrender."

"Such arrogance, Captain Rogers. You are outnumbered and outgunned and I still have my hostage." Lynch turned to one of his men with a sharp nod. The agent passed him something that looked like an extended handcuff. He shoved a struggling Brianna's left arm into it. She looked at it in fear and confusion.

"What's that? What are you doing to her?" Steve was desperate to make a move but they couldn't risk any harm to Brianna.

"One of my own inventions. I decided that the chair was too much of an inconvenience. Now, Brianna, say goodbye. You're going to forget you've ever met these two gentlemen very soon."

Bucky tensed. "Steve" he ground out.

Steve was waiting for an opening. Brianna shifted slightly, exposing Lynch's left leg. Steve threw the shield at it. The sickening sound of bone giving way and Lynch's roar of pain and fury echoed through the room. "Get down, kid!" yelled Steve, chucking her the returning shield to shelter behind as bullets began flying. He and Bucky started fighting hand to hand, knocking a number of their enemies over the walkway.

"Brent, now!" barked Lynch, his face reddening.

One of the men stood, holding a thin metallic object. Steve took it for a knife. Bucky knew better. It was a trigger for something. He glanced at the cuff still on Brianna's arm, instantly connecting the dots. He dove for her trapped limb, starting to pry the restraint away with his metallic arm. Some part of him knew he wouldn't get it off in time but if he could divert some of it away from the girl...

At the same instant the agent depressed the button. A horrifically familiar white hot sensation shot up the arm and coursed through Bucky's body and his mouth tore open in a scream of agony and terror.


	9. VIII

Steve's blood felt like ice at the sound of his friend's scream. He turned to see Bucky kneeling on the floor, hyperventilating, pressing both fists to his temples with groans of distress. Steve knocked the man called Brent over with a punch before rushing to Bucky's side, pulling off his helmet.

Brianna struggled groggily to a seated position "what's wrong with him?" Steve couldn't reply.

"Bucky? Buck?" Steve suddenly had horrible visions of Bucky turning around with that haunted, blank look he had worn when they were first reunited in the twenty-first century. He remembered the cold, calculated murder in the eyes of the friend he loved as bullets were fired at him. He didn't think he could face that again. Not after he had come this far. "Bucky please, look at me."

A soft murmur of "St-Steve?" Issued from behind the curtain of dark hair. Bucky suddenly looked directly into Steve's face and while there was confusion in his eyes, he was still unmistakably himself "we found her?"

"Yeah, Buck. She's next to you. They were about to fry her head. Looks like you took the worst of it."

"The-the cuff" stammered Bucky. Then he barked a half-laugh, half-sigh of relief "I remember. Didn't take."

Steve felt warm relief himself, his initial fears quietening. Bucky was okay.

Then there was the click of a gun. Steve looked for the shield but it was already gone. "No!" Brianna was saying, getting to her feet. Steve turned around to find his shield suspended over him. Brianna held her hands in front of her 'of course, telekinetic' Steve realised.

"Get out of my WAY, you odious freak!" Lynch's voice sounded slightly hysterical.

"I thought I was an Asset" she said flatly.

"Shut up and let me finish this! These men have hampered HYDRA's cause for too long!"

"You will not hurt them!" Brianna's voice nearly broke with rage "You will not control me! I've had ENOUGH!" She shook with the force of her emotion. The shield wavered.

"You're loosing it, look at you! You're already crumbling! Now-". Lynch never got to finish his sentence. Brianna had launched the shield directly at his face and he fell back, utterly insensible.

"Great move, kid" Steve smiled. But Brianna wasn't stopping. Something inside her was snapping. She seized one of the discarded guns from the unconscious agents and raised it at Lynch. Steve flinched and made to grab her before Bucky laid his human hand on his arm. He stood and walked over to Brianna. "You don't wanna do that."

"I do! He's hurt so many people, Bucky. He's evil. He-"

"Yes he is. He has. But you're not like this, Brianna. You are a good and brave person and he does not deserve to do this to you! Your ability is to heal people and he wanted to make you a killer. You do this and he has what he wanted and HYDRA does NOT deserve that, you hear?"

"But-"

"No Brianna. I know what it's like to have killed and it's haunting. I still see their faces. Some of them were bad people too. HYDRA's enemies weren't always saints but I still wish every day that I could take back all of it. And that wasn't even my choice. I don't want you or anyone else to suffer like that. That's why I joined the Avengers" he glanced at Steve "to reduce the sum total of suffering in the world. To take what they made me do back in the only way I can. Please, put the gun down."

Brianna's hand shook. She swallowed and committed to her decision, dropping the weapon and turning to cling to Bucky.

"Listen, Brianna, this does not mean he is getting away with this. He'll stand trial and every filthy thing he's done in HYDRA's name will come out" Bucky murmured into her shoulder "then we'll lock him up for the rest of his miserable life."

"Good" she managed. Bucky momentarily tightened the hug before releasing her and leading her over to Steve.

"I'm proud of you, kid" he told her.

She spoke shakily. "Not every day Captain America tells you that" she laughed. Steve and Bucky responded in kind.

"Wow! Quite a party I missed here. Save me any cake?" Tony had arrived and stood at the edge of the walkway "jokes aside, though, who wants to get these asshats ready for pickup? I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to get out of here."

"Where we gonna put them?" Brianna asked, gesturing at the prone men on the floor.

Bucky gave a slow grin, jerking his head downwards at the cryotubes "how 'bout there?"

"Cool. Lets go make some human popsicles" Tony agreed with clapped hands.

It took a recovered Coulson less than an hour after their call to come with a retrieval team to pick up the prisoners so the four of them were still there. He gave an impressed whistle when he saw the number of men in stasis. "Those guys are gonna have a hell of a headache in the morning, though I suspect that will be the least of their worries. All the evidence in this place makes a trial a formality at this point. Another fine job, gentlemen. And lady." he added with a nod over to Brianna.

"How's Moralis?" asked Steve.

"Concerned?" Coulson raised his eyebrows.

"Just curious. Why would she give us the footage to lead us to HYDRA's hostage?"

"Apparently she didn't. One of the technicians apparently grew a conscience and leaked it to us. According to Moralis, she dealt with the woman herself."

Steve nodded sombrely. He couldn't imagine that HYDRA treated traitors delicately. "We clear to go?" He asked.

"Sure thing, Captain."

"C'mon then, let's get on the road." The three Avengers and Brianna walked down the corridor and out of the base. The sun rode low in a blue sky streaked with gold tinged wisps of cloud. A gentle breeze rustled through the trees. The peaceful atmosphere helped drain the remaining tension from the group. Brianna took a deep breath of the clear air before boarding the jet. Steve and Tony sat in the pilot's and copiolt's seats respectively and Bucky strapped himself in opposite Brianna. The jet's engine emitted a low whine and she felt the ground melt away under them.

"I've been thinking..." Brianna began.

"Dangerous thing, that" Bucky joked.

She snorted, giving his human arm a gentle shove. "Seriously! Look, what do you think about me...joining?"

"Joining? As in the Avengers?"

Noticing his apprehension, Brianna pressed on "I thought about what you said to stop me killing Lynch. About you having gone through a lot and wanting to stop others from suffering. I'd like to do that too."

"Brianna-" Bucky sighed.

"Look, I'm serious! I don't wanna do this just because it's cool or whatever. I really want to help!"

"We just rescued you from having to fight." Bucky leaned forward.

"But this is what I would choose. There's the difference. You saw what I can do."

"I know. It's not that I doubt your ability. Or the fact you would be an a...great addition to the team. Thing is Brianna, you are still a kid. You need to live your life. Go to school, be with your family. Have some normalcy. What we do, it's no place for a child. But, if you still feel the same in a few years...you can come find us. That fair enough?"

"Yeah, knew it was a long shot." She gave him a wry smile.

"You'll do it one day, you know" he said after a moment's silence.

"What's that?"

"Make a difference. One way or another."

"That's the plan" Brianna smiled, leaning back in the seat. She closed her eyes, letting the engines and a feeling of safety lull her to a doze. Bucky glanced at the girl and followed suit.


	10. Epilogue

"Hey Buck, what's that you're reading?" asked Steve, noticing a grin on his friend's face as he distributed coffee mugs to three of his fellow Avengers who were enjoying some much needed downtime in the common area of the Tower. Bucky was reading the screen of the tablet Tony had given him with interest. Steve was quite content not to become addicted to this era's conveniences but Bucky had always been a technophile. He took to all the latest advances with aplomb that had little to do with his time as the Winter Soldier.

"Email from Brianna." It was a little over a month since Lynch's abortive attempt at turning the teenager into a new weapon for Hydra and it was still the subject of much discussion on news outlets of all sizes. His trial was due to begin in a matter of days but his habit of embarking on zealous rants and confessions whenever a microphone, dictaphone or pen and paper were put in front of him had made it a foregone conclusion that he and his collaborators would never be free men and women again. His failure seemed to have robbed him of his sanity, such as it was. The Avengers had mercifully been able to keep his last victim anonymous. Brianna deserved to return to her life in peace. Even so, she had offered to testify if it became nessisary and had exchanged emails with Bucky in case they needed to get in contact.

"What did she say?" Natasha shifted from her catlike position to face Bucky. As a graduate of the Red Room, she had taken Brianna's similar ordeal to heart. Tony glanced up from his own tablet.

Bucky read out the whole email, an old fashioned habit Steve shared when it came to correspondence.

"'Dear Bucky,

I hope everything's going well for you guys. Just wanted to let you know I enrolled at the Xavier Institute this week. It's amazing to finally meet people like me. I never knew just how many abilities us Mutants could have. I can't wait to get started properly (total geek lol)' Lol?" Bucky frowned.

"Means 'laugh out loud', Elsa" Tony translated.

Bucky rolled his eyes "'...Anyway being here has made me appreciate just how much I owe you guys. I would have been dead or spent my life hurting others which feels a lot worse if it weren't for you. Mostly that makes me really grateful but I've gone through some tough moments when I think about it. It's okay, though, there's people I can talk to here if I need to and I'll avoid the news till the trial's over. He's not gonna win anyway.

I've thought about what we talked about and I don't think my mind's gonna change. I'd like to think I could do for someone else what you've done for me someday and being an Avenger seems like a good place to start. For now though, the textbooks await!

All the thanks in the world, Brianna'"

"Sweet kid" smiled Steve. Bucky suddenly burst into peals of laughter. "What?"

"Apparently Brianna's mom wants to say hi to Tony. See Stark, you're being appreciated!"

"What can I say, that family's got taste. Now come on, this place has almost every TV station known to man. Can we seriously not find anything we want to watch? You guys better come up with some ideas or I'm putting on Steve's old propaganda reels. Let's see him punch Hitler a few times."

"Please, just don't. How did you even find those?" Steve squirmed. Those films were a source of deep embarrassment to him and he found them physically uncomfortable to think about.

"The magic of the internet, Man With a Plan." Tony shot Steve his most self-satisfied grin. Bucky bit his lip to keep from sniggering.

"Come on, Buck, back me up here!" Steve pleaded.

"I'd actually quite like to see you punch Hitler" Bucky shrugged.

"Barnes, I swear if you ever had any respect for me you won't watch any of them!"

"Sorry, looks like Jason Bourne over there's on my side, Rogers."

Natasha piped up from her corner of the sofa "We could always look at Tony's baby pictures. Are you gonna ask how I got those?" She asked Tony sweetly.

"Pure sorcery? Okay, fine, no embarrassing stuff. Hey look, Die Hard's on."

"What's it about?" Steve enthusiastically latched on to the first idea that didn't involve his humiliation.

"And so your eduction continues" Tony pressed the button on the remote with gusto.

About twenty minutes into the film, Bucky again had a fit of the giggles, waving Steve to come and look at his screen. "Well isn't that cute." Steve beamed down at the tablet. Tony looked both annoyed and confused at having been left out of the joke. Natasha, meanwhile, grinned mischievously at her smartphone screen.

A.N. And we're done! Enjoyed writing this. Let me know if it was okay and I hope no one was too ooc. Thanks for dropping by and hope to write more soon :)


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